Katie Uhlaender's Olympic bid case heads to Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the world's highest court for settling disputes related to international athletics, will hear an appeal by American skeleton athlete Katie Uhlaender for a spot in the upcoming Milan Cortina Olympics.
Uhlaender is seeking qualification after she missed out on the chance to qualify when Team Canada withdrew athletes from the North America Cup earlier this month, reducing the amount of points that the event could award. The point reduction made it impossible for Uhlaender to earn enough to qualify.
Now, CAS will review the case.
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"Ms Uhlaender requests that CAS determine whether a decision by BCS to withdraw four of its athletes from the 11 January 2026 IBSF North American Cup Race was in violation of the Olympic Movement Code on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions, and that BCS coaches violated the IBSF Code of Conduct," CAS said in a statement, per Reuters.
The hearing is set for Sunday morning.
An investigation by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) found that Team Canada intentionally manipulated the points at the competition in Lake Placid. However, the IBSF also did not revise any of the results or deliver any penalties as a result.
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"Although Canada subsequently attributed its decision to order four athletes not to slide in Official Training to concerns about the athletes involved, substantial evidence supports Ms. Uhlaender's contention that the move was a deliberate effort by Canada to reduce the points available at the final Lake Placid NAC so as to protect its own Olympic quotas," the IBSF said.
"Although the disqualification of an athlete and cancellation of results may have collateral impacts (other participants moving up in official finishes, for example) the Olympic Movement Code does not set out standards or means by which event records can be changed other than through sanctions," the announcement read.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) has sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) petitioning to have Uhlaender granted a spot. Fifteen other countries have joined in on that petition.
Canadian national team skeleton coach Joe Cecchini has defended the decision to withdraw the athletes earlier this month.
"This is all within the rules. There's nothing wrong with those things. And people can be strategic in the races that they participate. And she was doing that, and other nations were doing that, because you want to put your best foot forward," Cecchini told CBC News. "This is a system flaw, if anything. But we were within the rules."
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